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Fixed and Flexible Rates: A Renewal of The Debate

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  • Jacques R. Artus
  • John H. Young
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    Abstract

    The paper reviews the extent to which a decade of analysis and experience has altered thinking about the choice of an exchange rate system. The advantages of flexible rates are viewed to have been exaggerated. They do not permit governments to have permanently higher rates of economic activity at the expense of higher inflation as some thought. Further, the slow speed of adjustment to relative price changes limits the contribution of flexible rates to external adjustment in the short-run, and the degree of insulation from external influences that they provide. Finally, flexible rates tend to be fluctuating rates, and, although there is little empirical evidence so far showing that the fluctuations have had adverse effects on trade and capital flows, the exchange rate instability more than any other factor has led to a certain disillusionment with the floating rate system. Notwithstanding the drawbacks of flexible rates, there will be a continuing need for exchange rate flexibility over the next few years, and some analysis is given of the problems of achieving greater stability under flexible rates or the requisite amount of flexibility under pegged rates.

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    File URL: http://www.nber.org/papers/w0367.pdf
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    Paper provided by National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc in its series NBER Working Papers with number 0367.

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    Date of creation: Jun 1979
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    Publication status: published as Artus, Jacques R. and Young, John H. "Fixed and Flexible Rates: A Renewal of the Debate." International Monetary Fund Staff Papers, Vol. 26, No. 4, (December 1979), pp. 654-698.
    Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:0367
    Note: ITI IFM
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    1. anonymous, 1978. "Does the sinking U.S. dollar mean the float isn't working?," Quarterly Review, Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, issue Sum.
    2. Andrew D. Crockett & Morris Goldstein, 1976. "Inflation under Fixed and Flexible Exchange Rates (L'inflation en régime de taux de change fixes et en régime de taux de change flexibles) (Inflación con tipos de cambio fijos y flexibles)," IMF Staff Papers, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 23(3), pages 509-544, November.
    3. Gordon, Donald F, 1974. "A Neo-Classical Theory of Keynesian Unemployment," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 12(4), pages 431-59, December.
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    5. Thomas Willett & Edward Tower, 1970. "Currency areas and exchange-rate flexibility," Review of World Economics (Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv), Springer, vol. 105(1), pages 48-65, September.
    6. Baily, Martin Neil, 1974. "Wages and Employment under Uncertain Demand," Review of Economic Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 41(1), pages 37-50, January.
    7. L. M. Muir, 1977. "Comment," Economic Papers, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 1(56), pages 23-24, October.
    8. J. J. Polak, 1957. "Monetary Analysis of Income Formation and Payments Problems," IMF Staff Papers, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 6(1), pages 1-50, November.
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    10. Barro, Robert J., 1977. "Long-term contracting, sticky prices, and monetary policy," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 3(3), pages 305-316, July.
    11. F. Biesmans, 1977. "A Survey," Annals of Public and Cooperative Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 48(1), pages 5-36, 01.
    12. Rudolf R. Rhomberg, 1964. "A Model of the Canadian Economy Under Fixed and Fluctuating Exchange Rates," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 72, pages 1.
    13. John H. Kareken & Neil Wallace, 1978. "International monetary reform: the feasible alternatives," Quarterly Review, Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, issue Sum.
    14. Dornbusch, Rudiger, 1976. "Expectations and Exchange Rate Dynamics," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 84(6), pages 1161-76, December.
    15. Susan Schadler, 1977. "Sources of Exchange Rate Variability: Theory and Empirical Evidence (Sources des variations de taux de change: analyse de la théorie et observation empirique) (Fuentes de variabilidad del tipo de cam," IMF Staff Papers, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 24(2), pages 253-296, July.
    16. Azariadis, Costas, 1976. "On the Incidence of Unemployment," Review of Economic Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 43(1), pages 115-25, February.
    17. Cornell, Bradford, 1977. "Spot rates, forward rates and exchange market efficiency," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 5(1), pages 55-65, August.
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